A 'Very Emotional' 36 Hours After Woman Goes Missing

(Newser)
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A tense 36 hours for a missing Alabama woman's family has ended in relief. ABC News and WBMA report that volunteers on foot and even a drone were sent out over the weekend to search for 45-year-old Lisa Holman after her smashed-up car was discovered sometime after 9pm Friday on the side of a road in Pelham, just outside Birmingham. Her teenagers had called their dad, who then called police, when she never made it home that night, per WAAY. Holman's shoes, phone, and pocketbook were all inside the car, but Holman herself was nowhere to be seen. A crew of firefighters, police dogs, and local law enforcement spent all day Saturday looking for Holman, but they still hadn't found any sign of her by nightfall. Then, Sunday morning, came the news everyone wanted to hear.

Holman had been found alive, though with some broken bones, and was "alert" and "able to walk out of the woods" on her own, per a Facebook post by Pelham's police department. A volunteer gave her his shoes to replace the ones Holman had left in her car, per WVTM. Holman's family released a statement later Sunday, saying the time she'd been missing had been "very emotional," and that "her ability to withstand these injuries, the weather conditions, and the length of time in the woods is a testament to her resiliency." Amy Miller, who helped look for Holman and says she's her best friend, says Holman told her she'd lost her way in the dark after the crash and eventually hunkered down underneath a rock overhang, WIAT reports. Authorities are still putting together the rest of Holman's ordeal. (Read more missing person stories.)